Corkonians Marcus O’ hAilín, Edward Grannell and crew, a.k.a Daphne and the Attic, hit solid ground on their recent December release The Bucket and Shovel EP. Smattered throughout with contributions from the band’s ever growing tribe of veteran musicians, the recording conjures a sense of the charmingly ramshackle as it honky-tonks its way from alt. country to deep and dirty swamp rock, all the while drenched in the band’s rural roots and honest-to-goodness enthusiasm.
The eclectic mish-mash of country hoe-down and bar brawl blues on opening track ‘Hey Hey Papa Joe’ felt like heading to Féile (the raw, Harp-fuelled sweat-fests of the early 90s) in a transit van with The Pale and The Waterboys. Fun! In contrast, the lush ‘Peter and the Wolf’, with its classic Nirvana-esque riffs and emotive strings meld into a tasty blend of melancholic grunge that had me subconsciously humming the lyrics “hasn’t been around” for at least two days in a row.
Daphne’s swampy roots return on the third and final track, with ‘Medicine (Holy Roller)’ landing me back in the middle of the cow shit, the wheels blown on the Transit and nothing to do but just get on down and join in. The band’s been racking up the gigs in the last few months so no excuse not to check these guys out at a venue near you…um…soon!
Hey Hey Papa Joe by Daphne in the Attic
Daphne in the Attic play The Pavilion, Cork, Sat Jan 28th, w/ Trumpets of Jericho
